Third week of testimony in Trump’s hush money trial draws to a close, with Michael Cohen yet to come

NEW YORK — The third week of testimony in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial comes to a close Friday after jurors heard porn actor Stormy Daniels’ dramatic, if not downright selfless, story, while prosecutors geared up for their most crucial witness: Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer .

Daniels’ story about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump was a crucial building block for prosecutors, who want to show that the Republican and his allies hid unflattering stories in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election in an effort to illegally influence the race.

Trump, who denies the sexual encounter ever took place, walked out of the courtroom on Thursday, angrily telling reporters: “I am innocent.” His lawyers pushed for a mistrial due to the level of tasteless detail Daniels went into on the witness stand, but Judge Juan M. Merchan denied the request.

During more than 7.5 hours of testimony, Daniels recounted in graphic detail what she said happened after the two met at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe, where sponsors included the adult film studio where she worked. Daniels explained how she felt surprise, fear and discomfort even as she agreed to have sex with Trump.

During a combative cross-examination, Trump’s lawyers tried to portray Daniels as a liar and extortionist who is trying to take down the former president after she reaped money and fame from her claims. Trump attorney Susan Necheles pressed Daniels on why she accepted the payout to remain silent instead of coming forward, and the two women exchanged views on what Necheles said were inconsistencies in Daniels’ story over the years .

“You made this all up, right?” Necheles asked Daniels.

“No,” Daniels shot back.

The defense has tried to show that the hush money payments made on his behalf were an attempt to protect his reputation and family — not his campaign — by shielding them from embarrassing stories about his personal life.

After Daniels stepped off the witness stand Thursday, Trump’s lawyers urged the judge to change the gag order that prevents him from talking about witnesses in the case so he could respond publicly to what she told jurors. The judge also rejected that request.

This is all before Trump and the jurors are confronted by Cohen, who arranged a $130,000 payout to Daniels. It’s not clear when prosecutors will try their star witness, who pleaded guilty to federal charges and went to prison for his role in the hush money scheme.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal corporate records of the Trump Organization. The costs arise from paperwork such as invoices and checks that were considered legal costs in the company’s records. Prosecutors say these payments were largely refunds to Cohen for Daniels’ hush money payment.

Back on the witness stand Friday morning is Madeleine Westerhout, a Trump aide who was working at the Republican National Committee when Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape was leaked just before the 2016 election. That tape is important because prosecutors say the political storm it created accelerated the payment to Daniels.

Westerhout, who would later become Trump’s personal secretary, told jurors Thursday that the tape so confused the RNC leadership that “there were conversations about how it would be possible to replace him as a candidate, if it came down to it .”

Witnesses in the case have bounced between accountants and bankers with often dry testimony against Daniels and others with salacious and unflattering stories about Trump and the machinations of the tabloid world designed to keep them secret. For all the drama, this is ultimately a trial about money changing hands – business transactions – and whether those payments were made to illegally influence the 2016 election.

The criminal case could be the only one of four criminal cases against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to go to trial before voters decide in November whether to return him to the White House. Trump has pleaded not guilty and portrayed himself as the victim of a politically tainted legal system that is trying to deny him another term.

Meanwhile, as the threat of prison time looms for Trump after repeated violations of the gag order, his lawyers are fighting the judge’s order and seeking a quick decision at an appeals court. If that court refuses to lift the silence order, Trump’s lawyers want permission to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

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Richer reported from Washington.